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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  2. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  5. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  6. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  7. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  8. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  15. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  16. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  19. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  20. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  21. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  24. The ________________ took off on time.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. band — a rubber band
  2. wax — to grow
  3. shower — to wash
  4. race — a contest
  5. cap — of ice
  6. scale — for weighing
  7. cap — a hat
  8. scale — in music
  9. kid — child
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. wax — for sculpting
  13. race — the arms race
  14. band — a music group
  15. plane — in geometry
  16. race — humankind
  17. kid — to tease
  18. wax — in the ear
  19. cap — a lid
  20. scale — size or range
  21. band — a ring
  22. shower — rain
  23. plane — a tool
  24. plane — an aircraft

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com